Metal reinforced concrete buildings are well known and have been in widespread use for many years. Such buildings have been constructed in many shapes and for many applications.
Examples of such structures are disclosed in the U.S. patent art. For example, a U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,882 of Blanchette discloses a structural bearing Pad assembly for accommodating expansion and contraction as well as oscillatory movement of a structural beam relative to a supporting base or column. A pad of low friction material such as a filled polytetrafluoroethylene is secured to one base plate of steel or the like, and a composite pad of low friction material bonded to a resilient, load resistant material is bonded to another base plate. Each base plate is secured to one of the structural members as by welding in the case of a steel member or embedding in a concrete member.
An additional U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,759 of Yang is directed to a bridge expansion joint for buried inner placement over an expansion seam under a bridge roadway including padding sheets fixed to the bridge deck on either side of the expansion seam in the deck. Padding slats are fixed to the bridge deck outboard of the padding sheets. A steel plate is superimposed above the padding sheets and padding slats and is provided on its underside with sliding pads and padding slats corresponding to the padding sheets and padding slats on the bridge deck. Rivets are anchored in the deck and accommodated in expansion slots in the sliding pads and steel plate. The rivets and slots are covered by guard covers. The joint is intended to be paved over.
Finally, a U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,760 of Tokuno et al. discloses a floor structure comprising a plurality of steel beams arranged in parallel, each steel beam including a web, an upper flange disposed at an upper end of the web, and a lower flange disposed at a lower end of the web, a floor surface being formed on the upper flange. The floor structure further includes a displacement preventing spacer interposed between the upper flanges and/or lower flanges of the adjacent steel beams. The displacement preventing spacer includes a load receiving part which is brought into engagement with the adjacent upper flanges and/or lower flanges to receive an active load incurred by the individual steel beams so as to inhibit the steel beams from displacing downward.
Notwithstanding the above, it is presently believed that there is a need and a potential commercial market for an improved metal reinforced concrete beam and a metal reinforced concrete building incorporating such beams in accordance with the present invention.